From the players’ point of view, I can’t help feeling that Chelsea’s decision
to appoint Rafael Benítez as “interim” manager will backfire badly.

To John Terry and co, this is a bloke here for the short term, keeping the seat warm for Pep Guardiola. How can Benítez possibly command the dressing room with any real authority when, the chances are, he won’t still be there come the start of next season? He might as well have ‘stand-in’ tattooed on his forehead.

Nevertheless, the Spaniard, I’m sure, has enough confidence in his ability to fancy his chances of bringing an improvement to a Chelsea side that has struggled of late to strike a balance between attack and defence. The flair and imagination demanded by Roman Abramovich has often left the back four unhelpfully exposed.

First port of call, then, is the task of tightening up. Never mind Fernando Torres and reinvigorating the striker. That can wait. No, in the short time he has before Sunday’s clash with Manchester City, Benítez will probably be concentrating on the team’s shape to try to prevent the visitors from causing chaos on the counter-attack.

Having watched DVDs of Chelsea’s recent games, Benítez will have noted how opponents found space between the lines. How the likes of James Morrison, for instance, managed to sneak behind John Obi Mikel and Oriol Romeu, the two holding midfielders, in last weekend’s defeat at West Brom.

This comes down to concentration, to staying alert when your own team have the ball, making sure you don’t drift out of position. Chelsea, after all, have enough talented players on the front foot to cause City problems. Someone such as Mikel doesn’t need to join in.

Look out for the gap, then, between Mikel and Ramires and the back four on Sunday. It should not be very wide as Benítez attempts to smother the area City try and dominate with their clever interplay (Fig 1). That means stifling Samir Nasri and particularly David Silva, now starting to rediscover his very best form.

In doing this, though, it will be interesting to see what formation Benítez picks. Does he stick with the 4-2-3-1 that allows Juan Mata, Eden Hazard and Oscar to support the lone striker? Or does he go with something a little more cautious at the risk of upsetting Abramovich?

I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Benítez try something different to counteract Roberto Mancini’s side. At Liverpool, remember, he occasionally used three at the back as a way of flooding midfield against teams strong in this area. And should he decide to try this with Chelsea, he does have the players to give it a go (Fig 2). You will notice that Oscar is omitted from this prospective line-up, a necessary sacrifice in this sort of system.

On the plus side, however, this tactic would also be a way of offering more cover to David Luiz – a character, fair to say, who doesn’t entirely conform to the Benítez photofit of a proper central defender. Having relied on dependable sorts like Jamie Carragher and Sami Hyypia at Anfield, it will be interesting to see how the manager reins in the Brazilian’s unpredictable instincts, to see if he can improve the player’s erratic decision-making.

Because at Stamford Bridge on Sunday any kind of slip could be ruthlessly punished by a side beginning to warm to their title defence. Their Champions League campaign might have gone up in smoke but Premier League form isn’t bad at all. Not only that, Mancini has plenty of options within his squad, options denied to Chelsea’s small group.

QPR WORK ETHIC MUST IMPROVE

It will be fascinating to see how hard the QPR players work against on Manchester United on Saturday. Because they were incredibly lethargic against Southampton last week, as if all the fight had drained from them. Looking on from the touchline, an exasperated Mark Hughes didn’t have the answer, which must have contributed to yesterday’s sacking.

So can a new manager do any better? Can someone like Harry Redknapp find the right words to instigate a revival? It happens so often but never ceases to amaze.

Nobody expects them to win at Old Trafford. But then again, nobody expected such a limp surrender last week.